Spring is around the corner…and it’s time for a new set of
families to join us on the journey towards their birth. I get so nervous before our first class that
I don’t even eat dinner…and when class is over I realize that we have been blessed
with another great group of folks and that I am really hungry!

As we enter our third year of teaching, a few things have
become clear to me about what we do. The
overarching message of The Bradley Method® is not just natural birth – it’s
about the Healthy Mom, Healthy Baby outcome.
We have seen many families choose different paths to this outcome, and
at the end of the day, 98% of them are happy with their births. They felt empowered by their knowledge, their rights as consumers to ask
questions through the birth process, and the couples made decisions together so
that Mom and Baby are well and healthy after labor.

To that point, it is really important that our students
understand that we are here to convey information. We are not medical professionals, nor do we
want to dispense opinions. We are people
that are passionate about birth and willing to share our knowledge about the
birth process with other couples striving to have a natural birth. We will help them recognize what is healthy
and low-risk, we will share strategies to communicate with each other and their
birth team, we ask them to do their own reading and decide what they want, and
we will encourage them to use their knowledge to make Healthy Mom, Healthy Baby
choices.

There are three things we have learned that are controllable
in the great range of variables that accompany pregnancy, labor and birth. They
are nutrition, exercise and sleep.
Interestingly, these three things also carry through to postpartum
health; more on that in a future post.

Until you are holding your baby in your arms, no one knows
how long your pregnancy will last, how long your labor will be or how long you
will be pushing before you meet your baby.
What you can do is make good choices to make sure you and your baby are
at your best to have a healthy, low-risk pregnancy and so that you are ready
when the trial of labor begins.

Nutrition is the cornerstone of a healthy pregnancy. As Bradley® instructors, we teach our couples
to eat according to the eating plan created by Dr. Tom Brewer. He proved through his patients and with
clinical trials that there is no magic pill for a healthy pregnancy – no drug
company can sell you this. What you can
do is eat a protein-rich, whole food, well-balanced diet and see tremendous
results for mom and baby. Food is literally
the building block of the body…and during pregnancy, your baby is knitted
together with the building blocks you provide.
Whether your labor ends up being an intense sprint, a prolonged
marathon, or something in between, you can build a body and a baby that can
endure and surpass your expectations in labor.

The second component of a healthy pregnancy is
exercise. Moms need stamina so that they
can keep their energy up for the duration of their labor. Options for stamina-building exercise are
things like walking, swimming, pre-natal yoga; anything that you were doing
before your were pregnant and is approved by your doctor can also be on the list
of safe exercises. We also teach specific exercises that work on toning
the pregnancy muscles so that the back, belly and bottom are strong and ready
to support the positions used during labor, and the effort of labor itself.

Our students that come back and share their birth stories
with other classes have confirmed another point we teach in class: sleep is a great
way to avoid unnecessary pain in labor.
True sleep is the tipping factor in the outcomes we have heard. We learned this lesson the hard way with our
first-born.

We were so excited to be in labor and I was so determined to
be all-powerful and strong that I wouldn’t give into any “weakness”. As Bruss and our doula took turns taking
naps, I scoffed at them. It turned out
to be the wrong decision. After being
awake for 24+ hours, and laboring with Pitocin and no epidural, I was exhausted
by the time it came to push. That led us
to choose an episiotomy, a surgical incision to enlarge the vaginal
opening. Ouch. It was a long, painful recovery – almost nine
months before everything felt normal and painless again.

We decided to sleep in labor after that experience. I have slept at the beginning when
contractions have barely started, between contraction in active labor, and with
our last baby, we even slept through most of the active phase of labor.

True. restorative sleep is a decision to let your body get
the rest it needs. An unmedicated mother
can give into her need to sleep – no unmedicated mother has been know to sleep
through the birth of her baby. At some
point, the contractions are to the point where you need to pay attention; and
you will when the time comes.

Just like us, the students that were too excited and did not
convince themselves to sleep seem to end up with more interventions. Many of them end up with an epidural in the
last few hours of labor. When used
judiciously, this helps them achieve the relaxation they need to finish
dilating and get to the pushing phase.
The babies are exposed to the anesthetics for such a short time that
they come out healthy and able to breastfeed.
Thankfully, many of them have avoided episiotomies.

The ones who are able to sleep during a portion of their
labor have the energy to manage the late stages of labor without an epidural and
seem to have fewer interventions. The
good news is that the repeat moms who didn’t sleep the first time manage to
sleep in subsequent labors. When they
are nourished, strong and rested, they have much different second labors and
are able to achieve the natural outcome they wanted and prepared for.

It is with great joy and anticipation that we embark on
another twelve-week journey with our new class.
We are looking forward to getting to know them, watching the friendships
develop, and waiting for the new families born the days their babies are lovingly and
intentionally welcomed earth-side.

Disclaimer:

The
material included on this site is for informational purposes only.
It is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical
advice. The reader should always consult her or his healthcare provider to
determine the appropriateness of the information for their own situation. Krystyna Robles-Bowman, Bruss Bowman and Bowman House,
LLC accept no liability for the content of this site, or for the consequences
of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided. This blog contains
information about our classes available in Chandler, AZ and Payson, AZ and is
not the official website of The Bradley Method®. The views contained on this blog do not necessarily reflect those of The Bradley Method® or
the American Academy of Husband-Coached Childbirth®.